Craft fair stalwarts’ goods go from clocks to apparel

The veteran vendor of the craft fair circuit known as It’s About Time was not named with the thought that “it’s about time somebody created moisture-wicking graphic T-shirts.” Nevertheless, that product is presently the company’s main focus.

Some of the people you read about in this space each Aloha Friday pursue their passion for crafting outside of their day jobs, while some rely 100 percent on their businesses to make a living. Bryan and Christine Yoshimura of It’s About Time are among the latter.

“Once upon a time we had real jobs,” Christine laughed. “Bryan was always interested in art-related things,” she said, at which point he chimed in, “It was a hobby of mine. That’s how we started. It was an idiotic move on my part.”

That statement was followed by much laughter.

Bryan Yoshimura previously worked in tourism as a tour escort, while Christine Yoshimura was “a secretary.” Her word, not your columnist’s.

“He went to work for a sign company because he was interested in that,” she said. After about a year he set out on his own with his business, Signs Plus.

“A year later we started It’s About Time,” she said. Using his experience at his first sign company job working with Plexiglas, he thought about making clocks. They did, giving the clocks to relatives and friends as Christmas gifts, “and that turned into making clocks for a craft fair,” he said.

That first event was the Pearl City High School Christmas craft fair in November 1992.

“We sold a lot of clocks,” she said. Realizing they “might be on to something,” they decided to make more.

That is the story behind the company name.

“Our clocks initially weren’t Oriental-themed,” but were personalized, in English, she said. After the initial run they thought, “OK, why don’t we do Japanese-themed clocks, with kanji numbers?” and that is an item for which they became known.

The clocks were joined by subsequent handcrafted products including the mounting and framing of origami cranes for the wedding industry; then they took to making “wall art” and photo frames, she said.

All that has long been pushed aside, though a new clock design is in the works and will likely make its debut next year, given that holiday craft fair season is well underway and the Yoshimuras have events every weekend and other days of the week through Dec. 21. A full schedule can be requested by phone or email but also is linked to the online version of this column.

They turned their focus to applying their graphic designs to moisture-wicking T-shirts eight years ago, after getting the idea at a trade show on the mainland.

They had not seen anyone offering a similar product in Hawaii, and “we’re always on the lookout for something … new to sell,” he said.

The Yoshimuras design the shirts together.

“She’s the idea person; she comes up with a lot of good ideas,” Bryan Yoshimura said. “The bad part about it is, she can’t draw,” he said with a laugh.

“I try to figure out what’s in her brain” to draw it, and the design gets tweaked as they talk, then “she OKs the design,” he said. “She’s the boss.”

“I won’t argue” with that, she said.

They don’t make the shirts, which they call blanks, but they feel strongly about creating made-in-Hawaii products, so “we make our own transfers,” which are applied to the shirts in their Iwilei warehouse. “We print all our own shirts,” Christine Yoshimura said.

Women’s and men’s T-shirts cost from $27 to $31, with the top price being for a men’s size 4x shirt.

Men’s long-sleeved T-shirts range from $32 to $36, while men’s polo shirts are either $37 or, for size 2XL, $39.

Once the last holiday craft fair is over, the couple doesn’t get much of a break, because they start up again in January. The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii’s Ohana Festival will be Jan. 10.

“We enjoy doing what we do even though our schedule can be a little crazy,” Christine Yoshimura said. “We enjoy going out to sell our crafts and talking to customers. We have some really great customers and are very thankful for them.”

“Buy Local” each Aloha Friday is about made-in-Hawaii products and the people who make them. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.